孝心退瘟疫

2014-09-29

順治甲午年三月，在晉陵這個地方住着一個人叫做顧成。他的兒媳婦叫做錢氏。一次就在錢氏返回鄰村娘家的時候，顧成所在的村裡卻發生了瘟疫，到處都有傳染的情形，甚至連親戚都不敢路過、不敢探訪。

不幸顧成夫婦也得了這種瘟疫，不久，幾個兒子和媳婦等八人，也都陸續染病，整日卧病在床，奄奄一息。錢氏得知公婆等患時疫的消息后，急忙要趕回夫家照顧他們，可是錢氏的雙親為了她的安全，極力的勸阻，希望她不要回去。錢氏說：「丈夫當時娶我進門，不就是為了能孝養年老的公婆嗎？現在發生這樣的事情，我豈能置公婆於死而不顧呢？如果我明知他們病危而竟忍心不回去，那我跟禽獸又有何差異呢？我一定要回去照顧他們，就算死也沒甚麼可遺憾的。」

於是她便趕回去了。剛到家，就聽到有鬼的說話聲，說：「眾神都護着這個孝婦錢氏來了，我們速速迴避吧！」沒多久，顧成一家人果然都痊癒了。
Filial Piety Conquers an Epidemic

In March of Jia Wu (1655 A.D.), during the reign of Shun Zhi (a Qing Dynasty emperor who ruled China between 1644 and 1661 A.D.), there lived a person in Jinling village whose name was Gu Cheng. He had a daughter-in-law with the maiden name of Qian. One day Qian left to visit her parents. Soon after she left, an epidemic occurred in the village where Gu Cheng lived. Many people suffered from disease. Because the illness was so highly contagious, nobody from the outside dared to go inside the village.

Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Gu Cheng were also afflicted during the epidemic. Within a short period of time, eight family members, including several sons and daughters-in-law came down with the disease. They could not get out of bed for several days and nights and were close to death.

As soon as Qian heard the news, she wanted to hurry home to take care of her husband's family. Naturally, Qian's parents tried their best to dissuade her from returning home. Her parents wished to protect her. Qian said: "Did my husband not want me to provide filial duty for his aging parents when he married me? Now that this epidemic has happened, how can I ignore my parents-in-law? Won't I lose my humanity and become no different than an animal if I know of their predicament and yet do not return? I must go back and take care of them. If I should die, I will not regret it, as I will have fulfilled my duty."

Therefore, she hurried back home. As soon as she returned home, she heard ghostly voices, "Many Gods are protecting this courageous woman Qian. We must leave and avoid her!" Within a short period of time after Qian's return, the Gu family recovered.